ZIMSEC A Level · History · Form 5, Form 6
The French Revolution (1789) and Napoleon
Causes: financial crisis, Enlightenment ideas, social inequality (the estates system), and bread prices. Results: end of absolute monarchy, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Terror, and Napoleon's rise and reforms (Napoleonic Code).
Unification of Italy and Germany
- Italy: Cavour's diplomacy, Garibaldi's Thousand, and wars against Austria (completed 1870).
- Germany: Bismarck's "blood and iron" and wars with Denmark (1864), Austria (1866) and France (1870–71); the German Empire proclaimed in 1871.
The First World War (1914–18)
Long-term causes (alliances, militarism, imperialism, nationalism) and the short-term trigger (Sarajevo, 1914). The Treaty of Versailles (1919): war guilt clause, reparations, territorial losses and disarmament for Germany.
The interwar years
- The Russian Revolution (1917) and Stalin's Soviet Union.
- The rise of fascism: Mussolini in Italy (1922) and Hitler in Germany (1933), helped by the Great Depression and resentment of Versailles.
- Failure of the League of Nations and appeasement (Munich, 1938).
The Second World War (1939–45)
Invasion of Poland; key turning points (Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, D-Day); the Holocaust; results include the UN and the Cold War.
Exam tip: For causation essays, rank factors and explain links between them rather than treating them separately.
Check yourself
- Name the German chancellor associated with "blood and iron".
- Give two terms of the Treaty of Versailles affecting Germany.
- What was appeasement?
Show answers
- Otto von Bismarck.
- Any two: war guilt clause, reparations, loss of territory and colonies, army limited to 100 000, Rhineland demilitarised.
- The British and French policy of making concessions to Hitler to avoid war (e.g. the Munich Agreement, 1938).
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